DESCRIPTION (adapted from the Abstract): In this research project the Principal Investigator proposes to employ an alternative strategy to early detection of HIV seropositivity based on the hypothesis that the sexual networks of gonorrhea and HIV are similar in the United States and India. If this hypothesis is true, then the yield of HIV seropositivity by ELISA can be improved by approaching the HIV seropositives through patients attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics in India. The overall goal of the proposed work is to improve detection of HIV seropositivity and to suggest locally relevant prevention strategies against AIDS. To test the hypothesis, the Investigator proposes work designed as a cross-sectional study with the following specific aims: To map sexual networks of gonorrhea patients by contact tracing, Opa-typing and geocoding; To map sexual networks of HIV-positive patients by qualitative and quantitative techniques; To study network characteristics (balance, clusterability, centrality, core groups, sociograms and network overlaps) of gonorrhea and HIV networks. The Investigator proposes also to characterize HIV networks qualitatively (using text searches, narrative method and semantic network techniques) better to understand perceptions of AIDS and HIV. The proposed work will be conducted in the STD clinic, Government Medical College, Nagpur, India with collaboration from the Department of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The knowledge from this study will be used to suggest locally-relevant prevention strategies against AIDS.